Although in Guatemala he has been completing a university career for four to six years, There are people who violate the law by falsifying titles of any career and center for higher studies in just 24 hours, Therefore, it is essential to verify that this document that certifies the obtaining of an academic degree is authentic.
There are people who do not want to strive to study and complete their university education, But they know where they can help them obtain a fraudulent title, But it seems that they forget that it is an act punctured by law.
That place is at the end of the 8th. Avenida and 20 street, zone 1, Paradoxically, a few meters from the Supreme Court of Justice, where several processing offices work, proclaiming services related to the management of different documents. Some, although they do not disseminate it, also falsify university titles.
Free press He approached, unknown, two of them, to investigate what they offer in terms of illegal documents. When asked if they could “get” university titles, They immediately answered yes, and, at the same time, they inquired about which university and career it was desired. They implied that the choice of the Center for Higher Studies could be anyone. “It includes all the stamps and the registration in the Comptroller –General of Accounts (CGC) -“, promised one of them.
“If it is engineering, it is cheaper than the bachelor’s degree,” he added. He quickly scored on paper what were the documents that were to be delivered to do the “process”. In addition, a telephone number for which the information could be expanded. “It would come out in Q2 thousand 800, but I leave it in Q2 thousand 500, if it is engineering,” he replied when asked about the value of the document. Another “processor” indicated that he did not have the exact data of the value, because he was only intermediary, because it was another person who “made them”, but that the last one he had managed was a doctor, for Q3 thousand 200. He added that he includes all the stamps. “They are one hundred percent legitimate, but they are not legal. It is to work in the profession that appears in the title,” he warned, adding that the cost was Q3 thousand.
As for the time it takes them to deliver these fraudulent titles, it is 24 hours, surprisingly. One of them even requested 50 percent of the value as an advance, to begin with the “management”, and the rest is canceled upon receiving the document. “First I send you a photo, to check if all the data are well, and then we print it,” he offered.
Also read: Title falsehood is illegal and intolerable
The titles of greater demand are those of medium level, As observed.
At the request of Free pressa “processor” sent photographs of some titles from different universities and careers that falsify, COn seals and registration in the Superintendence of Tax Administration and in the CGC.
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Record
The CGC registered in 2023 172 thousand 508 academic titles and diplomas throughout the country, of which 126 thousand 570 are medium level, and the rest, undergraduate, academic degree – 27 thousand 165—, postgraduate, military office and subspecialties, according to the Labor Memory 2023 of the CGC.
In 2024, the total of registered academic titles and diplomas It was 166 thousand 442, of which 113 thousand 157 were medium level, according to the Labor Memory 2024.
The Comptroller has enabled a system of authenticity verification and registration of academic titles and diplomas through mobile application that reads the QR code that appears in said document. In case of falsehood, it refers to the Directorate of Legal Affairs, to proceed in accordance with the Organic Law of the CGC.
Material falsehood, which consists in creating or modifying documents in order to pass fraudulent information as legitimate, ands a typified and penalized crime.
According to article 321 of the Criminal Code, who “made material falsehood when doing in all or partly a False public document or altering a true one will be sanctioned from two to six years in prison. ” Article 323 specifies that if private documents were falsified, It will be sanctioned from one to three years in jail. Similarly, those who use these documents are punished, according to article 325, “knowing their falsehood”, with the same penalty that corresponds to the author of the falsification.
Usurpation is also penalized, since in article 336 it is established that “whoever will take academic title or exercise acts that compete with professionals, without having a special degree or qualification, He will be sanctioned with prison from five to eight years, and a fine of Q50 thousand to Q200 thousand ”.
The person who exercises a profession with a fraudulent title It can cause damage and damages to those who have hired their services. This conduct may also imply other crimes, derived from an irresponsible, reckless or negligent professional action, Gustavo García Fong, a researcher of the Legal Department of Thuses. If other people will be affected as a result of falsification, the respective criminal responsibilities will be deduced.
According to data provided by the Public Ministry, they have received throughout the country, in 2023 and 2024, four thousand 14 complaints for material falsehood; 776 for use of counterfeit documents and 157, for quality usurpation.
Modus operandi
These falsifiers are networks that are well organized and know the procedures of university degrees. In addition, they have vast tentacles in public offices and even in universities, according to Rodrigo Montúfar, Doctor of Law, Doctor of Sociology and former Decoan of a University Faculty.
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“The process of university degrees is complex and lasts considerable time – months – because they go through several controls. ES Incredible how criminal networks have come to know the details of the issuance process of these documents, ”he adds.
The accomplices could be people who have worked at a university or, possibly, They still work in it; Uncorrupulous employees who lend to such crime, emphasize.
“Not only is the falsifier, but the one who looks for it. He sins so much. Many people wish to hold a university degree, even if they have not won it with the studies, exams and practices required, They represent a true sacrifice of time, effort and resources, ”he says.
Measures
The verification and confrontation of university degrees must be in charge of the higher studies centers, to prevent false documents from being issued. There is an instruction of confrontation of academic preparation documents, issued by the National Civil Service Office, Very useful to bring strict control of the validity of each university degree, Montúfar explains.
Among the 12 general guidelines that appear in this document, which can be consulted on the web, is to have the original and photocopy of academic preparation, make the analysis of the original document, with the names, positions, rubric of the person who signs and the official stamps of the institutions responsible for extending the documents; Verify that the format does not present irregularities in its impression and that the original document has the extension dates and the corresponding records or codes. In addition, it must be corroborated with institutions such as the Ministry of Education, the CGC, Professional Universities and Associations about its legitimacy.
Before sealing a title, the CGC also features that the interested party is the real graduate.
The Directorate of Titles and Diplomas of the CGC indicates that among its faculties is that of VErify if the document was issued by the corresponding university, through a consultation user. The majority of higher studies houses have facilitated this method and, in other cases, digitally send the lists of the titles issued. “It is important that, in the case of employers or other interested entities, they implement verification processes to determine if the titles are authentic,” he says.
“I have been dean and I can assure that in most of the faculties of national universities Strict control is carried from the issuance of a title to the firms of Rector, Secretaries and Deans, They are the ones that appear, usually, ”says Montúfar.
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Higher studies houses They usually have in their files the typographic characteristics, dimensions, type and color of the paper or cardboard, Among other aspects, of the document that will be issued, says García Fong. Generally, this provision is regulated in an instruction or internal regulation used for that purpose.
“It is necessary that The authorities act drastically and apply severe sanctions to counterfeiters, To dissuade them, “says Montúfar ..” If all this happens with titles from national universities, what can we say about titles from universities from other countries.
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Generally, they should come with the stamps and legalizations of the respective governments, but there are graduates who do not want to carry out the procedure and bring titles as is, without any kind of legalization. This situation can be used by criminal networks to falsify titles from foreign universities, ”he warns.
According to article 87 of the Political Constitution of the Republic, The University of San Carlos de Guatemala is the only one empowered to resolve the incorporation of professionals graduated from foreign universities, as well as to recognize university titles and diplomas, covered by international treaties.
Media history
- On October 14, 2020, the Public Ministry released the conviction against a subject who worked in 2017 in the Secretariat of Social Welfare of the Presidency and that, to opt for said place, used a falsified title of Bachelor in Sciences and Letters.
- In 2021 it was announced that Ranulfo Rojas and Marco Antonio Cornejo, members of the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE), had presented postgraduate titles from the Da Vinci University to run as candidates for magistrates of the TSE, which turned out to be invalid.
- The book breaking Paradigmas (2014), by the former president Manuel Baldizón, contained texts by other authors without accreditation or reference, which constituted plagiarism.